FOR RELEASE April 9, 1999
Contact: Anna Dodd, Marketing Manager
(410)528-4324 [email protected]
Michael R. Paskavitz, Author
(978)525-2812 or (978)524-8852 [email protected]
Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Physicians Prepares Providers for Potential Patient Care Crisis in Year 2000
PHILADELPHIA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins announced publication today of the Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Physicians
With Year 2000 looming, a long-ago decision by computer programmers to use two-digit date fields has industry scrambling to head off the possibility of catastrophic computer crashes. Nowhere will the consequences of Y2K take more of a toll than in the health care industry. The Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE is designed to help physicians mitigate the magnitude of Y2K in their own medical practices.
"In the final analysis, Y2K is all about risk," comments Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE author and Health Care Safety Institute President Michael R. Paskavitz. "Physicians face the risk that everything they rely on to provide patient care ó medical equipment, computer technology, utility systems, and other essential services ó might cease to function optimally, or at all."
In the face of uncertainty about the Y2K risk, the SURVIVAL GUIDE offers medical care providers a straightforward, systematic strategy for protecting patients against the adverse effects of possible breakdowns in the delivery of health care.
"Physicians who are very familiar with risk management and contingency plans in patient care will be pleasantly surprised how this preparedness model for Y2K speaks our language," says Lanny Johnson, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon from East Lansing, MI, and past president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. "There is no easier or more practical way to examine Y2K as it applies to a prudent physician's practice. I have seen [this process] open up the eyes of the most skeptical physician."
In the process of protecting their patients, physicians will also help to protect themselves from the threat of uninsured Y2K-related lawsuits for medical malpractice, wrongful death, personal injury, and non-disclosure.
"The basis of Y2K-related suits against clinicians will be that they did nothing to protect their patients from this completely foreseeable event," Paskavitz warns. "The Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE will help physicians demonstrate their 'reasonable diligence' and 'good faith' efforts to protect their patients."
The Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE's carefully constructed worksheets guide physicians toward sound clinical contingency plans that will help prepare medical practices for any major event, whether it's a Y2K failure or an entirely unforeseen mishap. "Healthcare is woefully behind other industries in preparing for Y2K," laments Paskavitz. The Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE offers the last, best chance to catch up and prepare an effective defense.
The Y2K SURVIVAL GUIDE: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Physicians, is available for $43.95 by calling Lippincott Williams & Wilkins at 1-800-638-3030, or by visiting Lww.com. A twelve-page Y2K Special Report is available free to journalists on request. To receive a copy, contact Anna Dodd, Marketing Manager, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, (410)528-4324, [email protected].
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